R-2 special board meeting

The Chillicothe R-2 Board of Education will be meeting in a special open session late Friday morning (March 8).

The meeting will begin at 11:15 a.m., in the administrative building along Old Hwy. 36.

The topics of focus for this meeting will be an amendment to the current school-year calendar to accommodate a pushed-back end-of-school date for this year (to May 30, 2013), as well as approval of an extra make-up date on March 15 (which is scheduled for a 1 p.m. early release), and an action item labeled "fiber cable contract."

"We're wanting to put fiber optic cable out to the Litton Ag Center," said Chillicothe R-2 Superintendent Dr. Roger Barnes. "If we want to apply for E-rate, which reimburses 77 percent of the cost [of the project], we have to go with an approved contractor."

Barnes is expected to recommend Zito Media for the project, which will cost approximately $15,000. Such will not take place until after July 1, 2013 — the beginning of the new school year. The cable will stretch from the current CHS out to the Litton Ag Campus.